.44 magnum Henry mares leg. Good for SHTF?

Status
Not open for further replies.
GunsAreEssential1975 said:
I've been told my local gun shop has a .45 colt mares leg in stock, so I'm gonna go check it out friday, just to see how it fits. I'll report back, if it suck's I'll be the first to admit it and throw this whole thread in the crapper.
Click to expand...

Excellent. Look forward to the report. :)
 
Here's the kid shooting the Ranch Hand:

Shoot08b.png
 
Guns,
It's not a matter of "supposed to", it's a matter of the inherent limitations of the gun & people trying to make it into something it isn't.

With scrunching, it can be fired with the stock nub against the shoulder.
It's neither comfortable nor efficient, and it makes the gun even slower in repeat shots.
It also places the action against the face, which is not a good idea.

Adding any length at all, such as a pad, to make it more shoulderable runs the risk of drawing LE attention & possible federal charges, and so does attaching a stock, since both make it an illegal weapon without the proper federal process being involved.

If you're absolutely determined to have a relatively short '92-style levergun, I'd suggest you just buy a 16-inch Rossi & go with that.
You'd have four inches more in the barrel, but you'd have a couple more rounds, and you could take a couple inches off the rear & get much better efficiency & more practicality.
Denis
 
DPris--- I've been checking out the rossi line , and the 16" model caught my eye. Also looked at some uberti's lastnight looked pretty good. I don't have any experience with either make however, I checked out a rossi ranch hand and noticed the action was nowhere near as smooth as the henry's. It would probably loosen up over time though, and the price difference is pretty signifigant as well. I would never modify a gun illegally, what I meant to post was in a SHTF type environment, I could throw the longer stock on. Sorry I didn't clarify that. Definately gonna check the mares leg out tomorrow, as well as some rossi models. Nobody stocks too many uberti's around here for some reason. Thank's for lookin' out for me on the SBR thing.
 
i personaly think the gun is more of a toy (as in no real usefulness) than any thing. if you want one get one it may work for ya who knows i would kinda like one rigged up with a holster and every thing just to have. Im not opossed to haveing a gun as a just ot have thing i have a thompson thats not really practical for any thing but its cool to own and go plinking with. in a real shtf situation there are much more pratical guns.

basicaly what im saying is if you want one get one hell its cool in a way.
 
Swing said:
(Shudder) I've already seen it. Warning, the following plastic-fantastic may make you nauseous. ;)

41026.gif
Click to expand...
Laugh all you want, but I was shopping for another rifle the other day and that thing came up in side conversation. LGS apparently can't keep it on the shelf.
 
I think these lever action pistols are just about the most useless guns ever put on the market. They require two hands to operate and are too big for effective concealment.

Forget about the impractical toy and get a good handgun.
 
I think these lever action pistols are just about the most useless guns ever put on the market.
Click to expand...
Then you should definitely not get one.
They require two hands to operate and are too big for effective concealment.
Click to expand...
What's your point, or, so what? Who said concealment was a requirement?
Forget about the impractical toy and get a good handgun.
Click to expand...
Toy? That's a dangerous attitude. Maybe people should get what they want. I love shooting mine, which I can assure you is no toy, and it suits my purposes perfectly.
 
Mainsail--- is that you're gun and scabbard? If so that is one sweet set-up.
Panzercat--- I don't doubt that it's a big seller. You put a collapsible stock and a rail on it, and people will be beating down your door to own one.
I went to my local shop today and checked oit the henry mare's leg
Positives were--- great craftsmanship, great looking and compact.
Negatives were--- wrong caliber, it was a 45lc. And price, $749
I asked them about getting a .44mag and they said that everything is hard to get right now due to the huge demand on guns right now. They only had three lever actions there, and two were .22lr
Due to the cost of the firearm and limited availabilty, I decided to buy a marlin 336. Price was $387 . It's the 20" barrel version, and it comes with a camo allen brand sling. I know allot of you guys say " don't buy a lever -action, get an AR", but honestly I 1) am not really an AR kind of guy, and 2) can't reall justify spending a grand on one. I'm still really interested in the mares leg, but may purchase a rossi ranch hand instead in .44mag. They are just way more reasonably priced than the henry, and for what I'm gonna use it for, I dont need anything to fancy. The gun shop that I buy my handguns from, I'm assuming, took some pretty serious damage from the tornado we had hit a couple of weeks ago in harrisburg,IL because nobody answers the phone, and I don't wanna go there stirring around and get in the way of the clean-up efforts. It's a pain buying a handgun in KY and having to transfer it to IL, that's why I went ahead and purchased the marlin. SO ANYWAY, can you all give me reliabilty/durability reports on the rossi ranch hand? I'll probably start another thread asking this. Until then, I'm gonna customize the marlin to better fit my needs. Thanks for all the help guys. Hell, we didn't even have any fightin' in here.LOL
 
You know what would be sweet? An SBR'd mare's leg with a suppressor, preferrably in .45.
 
HoosierQ said:
I cannot imagine a Mare's Leg being good for anything beside making TV Cowboy's look cool.
Click to expand...
Better accuracy and power due to the longer barrel than a standard pistol. I've got the .22 version. Easy to carry small game gun and fun target Gun. Not everything has to be "tacticool".
 
You know what would be sweet? An SBR'd mare's leg with a suppressor, preferrably in .45.
Click to expand...

Yup. I've been giving it some real thought.

Edit to add:
Most of my thought has been about one of these in .45-70govt. What it would lack in velocity (to stay subsonic) it could make up for in weight. Think of it like being a cowboy version of the .458 SOCOM.
 
Last edited:
Neither of my ML's are more accurate than a good quality revolver.

Can't say much about longterm durability on the Rossi, but mine's certainly reliable. So's the 16-incher.
Both, however, have been worked over & are not exactly stock. :)
Denis
 
Dpris--- thanks for the report man. Glad to hear your satisfied with rossi quality. Was it reliable stock? Or is that why it got worked over?
I hope I'm not driving everyone nuts with all the questions.
Bluethunder--- I live in a rural area with allot of open farmland around. I live up on a big hill, surrounded by family members, so we're doing pretty fair as far as location goes I guess.
 
I just know when it happens all I am going to be thinking about is if you are OK. It will be hard on all of us but somebody in a wheelchair it will be tougher. Glad you got family close.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

I
  • Locked
Henry mare's leg for kids?
2
Replies
37
Views
4K
Carl N. Brown
Carl N. Brown
D
  • Locked
Henry Mare's Leg .22
Replies
9
Views
1K
khegglie
khegglie
T
  • Locked
Henry Mares Leg and Legal question
Replies
16
Views
6K
gazpacho
G
T
  • Locked
Powder suggestions for a Henry Mare's Leg - 45 Colt
Replies
17
Views
767
Hondo 60
Hondo 60
mljdeckard
  • Locked
Basic ammo load for SHTF
2 3 4
Replies
93
Views
5K
Art Eatman
A
Back
Top